WHO regional exec cites Philippines’ readiness for COVID-19 vaccine rollout

The Philippines remains on track for its planned rollout of COVID-19 vaccines this year, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region said Wednesday.

The factors used by the WHO to determine a country’s readiness to carry out a vaccination program include the existence of a national vaccine deployment plan, regulatory preparedness, availability of cold chain infrastructure, and vaccine safety surveillance.

“We see that the country is on track of setting up the systems,” Socorro Escalante, coordinator for essential medicines and health technologies of the WHO Western Pacific, said at the Laging Handa briefing.

“And we will continue to work with the government to monitor and to understand what is the capacity and what we could advice technically in the vaccines rollout.”

She also underscored the importance of public support.

“While the government is ensuring that the deployment of the vaccine will be systematic and organized, the public would need to support that organization and systematic distribution of the vaccine para hindi po tayo mawala ng direksiyon and we will be able to rollout the vaccines in a proper way,” she said.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the government’s vaccine czar, said the Philippines targets to vaccinate some 50 to 70 million Filipinos against COVID-19 this year. The country is in talks with various vaccine makers to secure as much as 148 million doses. 

“We are now in the advanced stages [of] negotiations with Novavax, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac at Gamaleya. We hope to close the deal with these companies this month,” he said.

“However, it will be dependent on the global supply. Kung makikita po natin, countries have already procured, iyong rich countries have already procured more than 80% of the global supply.”

Galvez also said President Rodrigo Duterte recently approved his recommendation for local government units to enter into a tripartite agreement with the national government and vaccine manufacturers.

Some cities have established vaccination programs for their residents, allocating funds for this purpose.

“Batid ng pamahalaan na hindi niya ito makakayang mag-isa,” Galvez said.

“This is the reason why the whole of government and the whole of nation approach shall be adopted, maximizing manpower, expertise and processes to ensure the coordinated and integrated implementation of the COVID-19 immunization program.” -MDM, GMA News